LAS VEGAS — Indianapolis 500 winner Dan Wheldon died Sunday after his car became ensnared in a fiery 15-car pileup, flew over another vehicle and landed in a catch fence just outside turn 2 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

The 33-year-old racer was a two-time Indy winner, including this year’s race.
Three other drivers, including championship contender Will Power, were hurt in the pileup during Lap 11.

Wheldon was airlifted from the track to University Medical Center; about two hours later, his colleagues were told of his death by IndyCar CEO Randy Bernard, who said Wheldon’s injuries were “unsurvivable.”

“One minute you’re joking around at driver intros. The next, Dan’s gone,” said Dario Franchitti, whose wife, actress Ashley Judd, had to bring him a box of tissues. “I lost, we lost, a good friend. Everybody in the IndyCar series considered him a friend. He was such a good guy. He was a charmer.”

With the race canceled, drivers, many sobbing openly, took part in a five-lap salute around the 1.5-mile oval in honor of one of the sport’s biggest stars.

The race was only minutes old when Wheldon, who started at the back of the 34-car field and was in position for a $5 million payday if he had won, couldn’t steer clear of a wreck that started when two cars touched tires.

Within seconds, several cars burst into flames and debris covered the track nearly halfway up the straightaway. Some points of impact were so devastating workers had to patch holes in the asphalt.

Video replays showed Wheldon’s car turning over as it went airborne and sailed into what’s called the catch fence, which sits over a barrier that’s designed to give a bit when cars make contact. Rescue workers were at Wheldon’s car quickly, some furiously waving for more help to get to the scene.

“I’ll tell you, I’ve never seen anything like it,” Ryan Briscoe said. “The debris we all had to drive through the lap later, it looked like a war scene from Terminator or something. I mean, there were just pieces of metal and car on fire in the middle of the track with no car attached to it and just debris everywhere. So it was scary, and your first thoughts are hoping that no one is hurt because there’s just stuff everywhere. Crazy.”

Dan Wheldon. (Getty Images)

Also injured in the crash were JR Hildebrand and Pippa Mann. Both will remain in the hospital overnight. IndyCar said Mann was being treated for a burn to her right pinkie finger and will be released Monday morning; Hildebrand was awake and alert but will be held overnight for further evaluation. Power was evaluated and released. An autopsy was planned Monday for Wheldon.
IndyCar has not had a fatality since Paul Dana was killed at Homestead in 2006, during a crash in a morning warmup.

The accident appeared to start when Wade Cunningham’s car swerved on the track and Hildebrand drove over the left rear of Cunningham’s car. Hildebrand appeared to go airborne, and Cunningham’s car shot up into the wall, setting off a chain reaction among the cars behind him.

Some of those cars slowed, others didn’t, and others spun in front of Wheldon and Power. There was so much chaos on the track it was hard to tell who was driving what car.

Power appeared to fly over Alex Lloyd’s car, rolling into the catch fence and landing on its right side. His in-car camera showed one of the front tires coming toward him in the cockpit.
Wheldon then appeared to drive over a car driven by Paul Tracy, who seemed to be slowing down. Wheldon, however, went airborne and spun into the fence.

The track was red-flagged following the accidents while crews worked on fences and removed smashed cars.

“It was like a movie scene which they try to make as gnarly as possible,” said Danica Patrick, making her final IndyCar start. “It was debris everywhere across the whole track. You could smell the smoke. You could see the billowing smoke on the back straight from the car. There was a chunk of fire that we were driving around. You could see cars scattered.”

Wheldon, who came to the United States from England in 1999, won 16 times in his IndyCar career and was the series champion in 2005.

Despite winning this year’s Indy 500, Wheldon couldn’t put together a full-time ride this season. He landed in this race thanks to Bernard’s promise of $5 million to any moonlighting driver who could win the IndyCar season finale at Vegas. Although there were no takers, Bernard didn’t scrap the idea, and Wheldon was declared eligible for the prize.

Wheldon had been providing blog posts for USA Today in the days leading up to the Las Vegas race, and in one posted Saturday to the newspaper’s website he spoke of how he expected Sunday to be “pure entertainment.”

“This is going to be an amazing show,” Wheldon wrote. “The two championship contenders, Dario Franchitti and Will Power, are starting right next to each other in the middle of the grid. Honestly, if I can be fast enough early in the race to be able to get up there and latch onto those two, it will be pure entertainment. It’s going to be a pack race, and you never know how that’s going to turn out.”

Drivers had been concerned about the high speeds at the track, where they were hitting nearly 225 mph during practice.

“We all had a bad feeling about this place in particular just because of the high banking and how easy it was to go flat. And if you give us the opportunity, we are drivers, and we try to go to the front. We race each other hard because that’s what we do,” driver Oriol Servia said. “We knew if could happen, but it’s just really sad.”

Cunningham echoed those remarks.

“Things happen in this kind of racing,” he said. “It’s so close. Not much room for error. I was near the front of what caused all this, so I’m not thrilled about it. At this point, whose fault it was is kind of immaterial.”

Asked about speed after the crash, Wheldon’s former boss Chip Ganassi said, “There’ll be plenty of time in the offseason to talk about that. Now is not the time to talk about that.”
And Franchitti said: “I agree. We’ll discuss that and sort it out.”

The accident spoiled what Bernard had hoped would be a showcase event for the struggling IndyCar Series.

The second-year CEO worked the entire season on turning the finale into a spectacle and said he’d offer his resignation to the IndyCar board of directors if ABC’s broadcast didn’t pull a .8 ranking. His goal was to improve upon last year’s season finale’s horrible television rating and give the series some momentum for what’s hoped to be a strong season in 2013 with the introduction of a new car and new manufacturers.

So Bernard poured everything into Las Vegas, renting the speedway from owner Bruton Smith and agreeing to promote the event himself. He landed enough sponsorship to at least break even on the race, and the $5 million challenge bought him an enormous amount of publicity the entire year.

Bernard got the Las Vegas Strip to close to stage a parade of cars, hosted industry parties and a blackjack tournament all to boost interest in the race. He even got MGM Grand Resorts to offer a pair of tickets to anyone staying this weekend in one of the chain’s 14 properties.
But what was hoped to be a day of celebration quickly turned somber.

When drivers returned to the track for the tribute laps, Wheldon’s No. 77 was the only one on the towering scoreboard. Franchitti sobbed uncontrollably as he got back into his car for the memorial ride. The sound of “Danny Boy” echoed around the track, followed by “Amazing Grace.” Hundreds of crew workers from each team stood at attention in honor of Wheldon.
“What can you say? We’re going to miss him,” Ganassi said. “Everybody in IndyCar died a little today.”

Oct. 16, 2011 — Dan Wheldon, 33, died in a fiery 15-car wreck at Las Vegas Motor Speedway when his car flew over another on Lap 13 and smashed into the wall just outside turn 2.

March 26, 2006 — Paul Dana, 30, died during the warmup for the season-opening Toyota Indy 300 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. After Ed Carpenter’s car hit a wall and slid to a stop, Dana slammed into it at nearly 200 mph, his car nearly splitting in half. The chassis flew off the ground and turned over before landing on its wheels.

Oct. 22, 2003 — Tony Renna, 26, died after a crash during testing at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. He lost control at nearly 220 mph, went airborne and crashed into a fence.

May 17, 1996 — Scott Brayton, 37, died during practice for the Indy 500. Drayton, who had earlier won the pole, had his right rear tire go flat and his car went careening in a wall at more than 230 mph.

Steelers linebacker James Harrison tweeted this photo from the hospital.

Steelers linebacker James Harrison left Sunday’s game with this grisly injury.

He posted a picture of the injury inflicted by the Texans linemen. Harrison underwent surgery Wednesday for the broken orbital bone and now sports the bandaged look.

The Steelers have no released a timetable for his return.

]]>http://blog.chron.com/sportsupdate/2011/10/see-what-texans-did-to-this-steelers-stars-face/feed/0Texas high school football fan shows love for his team with intense, over-the-top shout-out videohttp://blog.chron.com/sportsupdate/2011/08/texas-high-school-football-fan-shows-love-for-his-team-with-intense-over-the-top-shout-out-video/
http://blog.chron.com/sportsupdate/2011/08/texas-high-school-football-fan-shows-love-for-his-team-with-intense-over-the-top-shout-out-video/#commentsThu, 18 Aug 2011 16:07:28 +0000http://blog.chron.com/sportsupdate/?p=2935

This Texas high school football fan is clearly ready for the start of the season.

Identified only by his YouTube username divalover159, he produced a “shout-out video” for his team, the Knox City High Greyhounds.

The North Texas town with just more than 1,000 residents fields a football team in Class A six-man football.

This fan’s intense preview of the season — believe it or not — includes a title prediction for his beloved Greyhounds.

Raymond worked as a referee in the NBA in 2004 before the league fired him for lying on his resume. (Getty Images)

Steve Francis, then a guard with the Rockets, argues with Troy Raymond during a 2004 game at Toyota Center. (Karen Warren/Chronicle)

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Authorities say a former NBA referee shot and killed himself in a suburban New Orleans hotel room on the same day his wife was found strangled at their Houston area home.

A law-enforcement official in Montgomery County says Troy Raymond was a person of interest in the death of his wife, Leslie Anderson Raymond, whose body was discovered last Thursday at their home in Spring.

Troy Raymond’s body was discovered Thursday at a hotel in Jefferson Parish. The coroner’s office said he shot himself in the head.

Tim Holifield, a Montgomery County constable, said Wednesday that Raymond hasn’t been named a suspect in his wife’s killing and it’s premature to connect their deaths.

Raymond worked as a referee in the NBA in 2004 before the league fired him for lying on his resume which falsely stated that he served in the Air Force and was a member of the University of Colorado’s national championship football team in 1990, according to the New York Daily News.

Raymond also refereed games in the Soutland and Sun Belt conferences.

]]>http://blog.chron.com/sportsupdate/2011/08/former-nba-and-ncaa-basketball-referee-found-dead-days-after-wifes-murder-in-houston/feed/0Prepare for high school football season with district-by-district previewshttp://blog.chron.com/sportsupdate/2011/08/prepare-for-high-school-football-season-with-district-by-district-previews/
http://blog.chron.com/sportsupdate/2011/08/prepare-for-high-school-football-season-with-district-by-district-previews/#commentsWed, 17 Aug 2011 06:43:24 +0000http://blog.chron.com/sportsupdate/?p=2910

Known for his speed, UH pledge and Angleton running back Ryan Jackson will be a player to watch in District 23-4A this season. (Chronicle file)

A district MVP as a sophomore when he led his team to the playoffs, Texas A&M commit and senior quarterback Matt Davis returns to action in District 13-5A after a season lost to injury. (Smiley N. Pool/Chronicle)

]]>http://blog.chron.com/sportsupdate/2011/08/complete-2011-nfl-preseason-schedule/feed/0Former A&M football recruit killed in shootinghttp://blog.chron.com/sportsupdate/2011/08/former-am-football-recruit-killed-in-shooting/
http://blog.chron.com/sportsupdate/2011/08/former-am-football-recruit-killed-in-shooting/#commentsFri, 05 Aug 2011 20:04:08 +0000http://blog.chron.com/sportsupdate/?p=2882A former Texas A&M football recruit who led his high school team to the state semifinals died in a shooting early Friday morning in Bryan County, Oklahoma, according to Oklahoma authorities.

The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation said agents were called to the scene around 6 a.m. on Friday, KBTX-TV in Bryan-College Station reports. The body of 19-year-old D.J. Jones, a former all-state running back, was found in downtown Cartwright. Agents and local law enforcement are currently searching for three people believed to be involved. Agents are on scene investigating a motive for the shooting.

Jones was among the star-studded Class of 2010 that led Denison to the Class 4A state semifinals in 2009. He signed with Texas A&M but was arrested for theft before he got to College Station.

Panthers middle linebacker Jon Beason broke the news on Twitter late Thursday night that he is now the highest-paid middle linebacker in the NFL.

“Turn on the tube,” Beason wrote late Thursday night. “Jon Beason the highest paid MLB (middle linebacker) in the league. The news breaks now.”

Beason becomes the latest of Carolina’s core players to get a huge deal from the Panthers, following in the footsteps of defensive end Charles Johnson, linebackers Thomas Davis and James Anderson and running back DeAngelo Williams, all of whom agreed to terms the previous two days.

The Panthers have also signed kicker Olindo Mare, defensive tackle Ray Edwards and safety Sean Considine and traded for tight end Greg Olsen from the Bears, who also got a new long-term deal.